Candlelight vigil in Kelowna for victims in Orlando mass shooting

KELOWNA – The community is invited to a candlelight vigil in Kelowna tonight to remember victims of the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Florida.

Members of Okanagan Pride are organizing the vigil to be held at the rainbow crosswalk at Pandosy Street and Lawrence Avenue in downtown Kelowna tonight, June 12.

“Please join us to remember those lost and injured by this terrible tragedy,” says a post on the Okanagan Pride Facebook page.

A gunman wielding an assault-type rifle and a handgun opened fire inside a crowded gay nightclub early Sunday, killing at least 50 people before dying in a gunfight with SWAT officers, police said. It was the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

Authorities were investigating the attack on the Florida dance club as an act of terrorism. The gunman's father recalled that his son recently got angry when he saw two men kissing in Miami and said that might be related to the assault.

A post on the Kelowna event’s Facebook page says, “Let’s light some candles and come together to send a message of love and solidarity with all those LGBTQ folks in Florida, here in Canada, and across the world who have experienced hate and violence just for being who they are.”

The Kelowna candlelight vigil is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m.

— With files from the Associated Press

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